Drawing template

ABSTRACT

A template for drawing symbols, the guide surfaces defining the symbols and/or the surface of the template adjacent to the edges of the guide surfaces being of a different color to the remainder of the template.

United States Patent [191 Anderka DRAWING TEMPLATE [75] Inventor: Gerold Anderka, Hamburg, Germany [73] Assignee: Rapidograph, Inc., Bloomsburg,

22 Filed: April 16, 1970 211 App1.No.: 29,203

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 1March 20, 1973 Primary ExaminerLeonard Forman Assistant Examiner-Paul G. Foldes Attorney-Lilling & Siege] [5 7] ABSTRACT A template for drawing symbols, the guide surfaces defining the symbols and/or the surface of the template adjacent to the edges of the guide surfaces being of a different color to the remainder of the template.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures April 24, 1969 Germany ..P 19 20 861.8

[52] US. Cl. ..33/l74 B [51] Int. Cl. ..B41n 1/24 [58] Field of Search ..33/l74 B ,PATENTEDMARZOISYS 3.721.011

INVHVI'UH.

GEROLD ANDERKA V DRAWING TEMPLATE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to templates for drawing symbols. Drawing templates normally comprise a transparent plastic strip into which are milled standardized symbols, for example: the letters of a standard script, numerals or punctuation marks and any other symbols which may be required.

Transparent templates have the disadvantage that the individual milled parts are difficult to detect when the template is placed on white drawing paper. Darkcolored templates are less convenient because it is then impossible to read a symbol which has already been drawn and which is covered by the template. It has been proposed to use colored plastics foils or plastics foils dyed with fluorescent dye as template materials, in order to find at least slight visual differences between the milled symbols on the template and the remainder of the template. However, it is still extremely difficult to detect the milled symbols particularly in the case of templates for small script, and even in the case of template for larger scripts such a measure is not totally successful in the case of obliquely incident light or if the characters are not observed from a strictly perpendicular point of view. The colored translucent foil causes the entire white paper background to appear in conformity with the coloring, so that once again the milled symbols are not clearly visible.

According to the present invention, there is provided a template for drawing symbols in which the guide surfaces defining the symbols formed in the template and/or the surface of the template adjacent the edges of such guide surfaces are or is of a different color to the remainder of the template.

Preferably, the template is transparent and the surface of the template may be colored over a region which extends around the edges of the guide surfaces for a distance which is not more than 1 mm and preferably not more than 0.5 mm from the edges of the guide surfaces.

In the case of templates in which the guide surfaces are very close together and in the case of the mass production of such templates the guide surfaces are preferably uncolored, and only the surface of the template around the edges of the guide surfaces for the symbols is colored.

The surface coloring around the edges of the guide surfaces is preferably printed or painted after embossing or milling the symbols into the template. There should preferably be no gap between the coloring on the surface of the template and the edges of the guide surfaces.

Another aspect of the present invention comprises a method of manufacturing a template of the kind hereinbefore defined in which the template is masked with a protective layer, the symbols are milled into the template, and the template is painted. If desired, the protective layer may then be removed.

Both then foils, for example, plastic foils or metal foils may be used as protective layers, and wax layers or a protective film of grease may also be so used. The purpose of the protective layer is primarily to ensure that the paint does not attack the surface of the template and only reaches the desired areas such as the guide edges or a small region around the guide edges.

Subsequent to the coloring of the template, the protective foil may be stripped from the template or the wax layer may be removed by polishing or other cleaning measures. The coloring is preferably effected by dip treatment in a pigment solution in which a compound which slightly dissolves the template material itself is used as a solvent.

Two embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of part of one embodiment of a template according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a similar view of another embodiment of a template according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown in FIG. 1 a transparent template 1 having a number of letters 2 milled into it. The guide surfaces which define the letters are indicated at 3 and are colored.

Referring now to the transparent template 1 shown in FIG. 2, the guide surfaces 3 defining the symbols 2 are uncolored, and instead a uniform region 4 on the surface of the template around the edges of the guide surface is colored. The colored region around each symbol has a uniform depth from the edges of the guide surfaces defining the symbol. The depth of the colored region is approximately 0.5 mm.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the surface coloring on the template extends right up to the edges of the guide surfaces. It is, of course, also possible to provide a small interval as noted hereinabove between the colored region and the edges of the guide surfaces.

The colored regions on the surface of the template may be produced by printing after the symbols have been milled or embossed in the template. The colored regions 4 could be provided on steps surrounding the edges of the guide surfaces and furthermore although the embodiment of FIG. 2 shows that the coloring 4 around any one symbol is continuous it is of course equally possible for the coloring to be applied intermittently.

therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A drawing template formed of a sheet of transparent material and having at least one symbol comprising a plurality of guide surfaces cut through said sheet and defining said symbol and color contrasting means on said guide surfaces and thus defining and delineating each of said guide surfaces from the remainder of said drawing template so as to enable the detection of said symbol to be readily perceived by the user.

color contrasting means comprise colored surfaces of said drawing template adjacent each of said guide surfaces of a color creating a visual contract with the remainder of said drawing template. 

1. A drawing template formed of a sheet of transparent material and having at least one symbol comprising a plurality of guide surfaces cut through said sheet and defining said symbol and color contrasting means on said guide surfaces and thus defining and delineating each of said guide surfaces from the remainder of said drawing template so as to enable the detection of said symbol to be readily perceived by the user.
 2. The drawing template according to claim 1, said color contrasting means comprise colored guide surfaces of a color creating a visual contrast with the remainder of said drawing template.
 3. The drawing template according to claim 1, said color contrasting means comprise colored surfaces of said drawing template adjacent each of said guide surfaces of a color creating a visual contract with the remainder of said drawing template. 